'Inflammatory words': Aurora considers dropping former mayor's name from street

Battle between lesbian couple, former mayor Evelyn Buck started over rainbow crosswalk

Yorkregion.com
August 13, 2020

Aurora is considering a plea by a married lesbian couple to change the name of Evelyn Buck Lane after the street’s namesake and former mayor made offensive comments in posts on a community Facebook page.

"We have been made aware of the comments that were made in an online forum," Mayor Tom Mrakas said in an email. "Any time offensive comments are made by a member of our community, it is disturbing and disappointing. Aurora is an inclusive community and hurtful comments are unacceptable and do not reflect who we are as a community.

"When a member of our community has been honoured with having a street or building etc. named after them, it comes with a responsibility of upholding the values of our town," he continued. "With respect to this specific situation, we are currently discussing the matter and determining any appropriate action, inclusive of the considerations involved in changing a street name."

The escalating and increasingly public dispute pits Maricella Sauceda and her wife, Luisa Gomez, who live with their young son on Evelyn Buck Lane in the area of Bayview Avenue and Wellington Street, against Buck, 92, the outspoken former mayor, whose almost 40-years on council date back to the 1960s.

The disagreement ramped up on the morning of Aug. 12 when a homophobic slur was painted in large red letters on the stage at Aurora Town Park before municipal staff removed it.

An emotional Sauceda is wondering whether Buck’s public rhetoric "incited" someone to tag the slur, while Buck believes Sauceda’s campaign to discredit her could have prompted a backlash by an unknown person.

The dispute started when Buck posted criticisms about council’s decision to approve a rainbow crosswalk to support the LGBTQ community and promote diversity.

The crosswalk, which itself has provoked controversy, will be installed on the south side of the intersection of Yonge and Wellington streets. It will cost $12,000, with $10,000 coming from an anonymous donor.

"Outrageous!" Buck said in one post.

"Are we the San Francisco of the North or what? Is Toronto’s Gay Village in Church Street not sufficiently convenient? Was public input sought for authority to artificially change our town’s character to a Gay community."

What’s next? Buck asked. "A gigantic Penis at the entry to our town signifying our obsession with sex?"

"I’m all for people living the lives they choose. Don’t ask me for more than that. Don’t ask me to pay taxes to celebrate what I am not. Just let me be who I am."

In another post, Buck says she has a right to speak her mind, adding "(your) being gay is your problem not mine".

In another, she encourages the LGBTQ community to "stop banging drums, parading, making an exhibition of yourselves, painting crosswalks and shut up about being gay for goodness sake. Just get on with your lives, like everybody else and make the best of it."

In another, she calls an eagerness to shout and show and parade sexual practices “an aberration.”

Sauceda, who grew up in an accepting family in Los Angeles and said she has never before felt discriminated against while living in Aurora, is upset with Buck’s posts.

"The language that she has used is very hurtful," Sauceda said. "It’s hurtful and it’s hurtful to the community.

"Her words were very mean-spirited. There’s a thing about free speech, but there’s also a borderline when it becomes hateful. I think it’s hateful. Some of the rhetoric she has and the words she uses, this is a very smart woman, very sharp, and she’s made it perfectly clear how she feels.”

As the dispute escalated on Facebook, Sauceda said some members of the LGBTQ community privately thanked her for challenging Buck because they feel they can’t speak out "because of the Evelyn Bucks of the world".

"It sucks that we’re in this position, but the words that she used, they’re inflammatory," Sauceda said.

"I’m a little bit afraid for the safety of my family now."

Buck, who feels Sauceda’s response to her has been aggressive, said she accepts members of the LGBTQ community and is not homophobic, but feels people of any sexual orientation should go about their business quietly.

She is sticking by her comments.

"I don’t say things lightly," she said. "I’m not innocent. I knew when I said it, it would stir things up a bit. What’s the problem with that?"

She said many residents have reached out to agree with her.

Buck is also angry Mrakas has criticized her comments.

"Who is he to say my comments are unacceptable? What gives him the authority to make a judgment like that, speaking as the mayor on behalf of the entire community?"

Buck said she would "feel nothing" if the name of Evelyn Buck Lane is changed, saying her sense of satisfaction comes from serving residents for years.

"I don’t know how I can fight it except to persist that I have a right to express my views," she said.

Buck’s posts show why a rainbow crosswalk is needed, Tristan Coolman, president of Pflag (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) York Region, said.

"Evelyn’s comments are the very reason why Pride marches and other visible signs of affirming LGBTQ2 folks like rainbow crosswalks are important," he said in an email. "There is no doubt in my mind there are people in our community who would align with her comments and there is some alignment from within the LGBTQ2 community as well."

"Yes, we do want to be seen like everybody else in a way, but not in the way you think," he said. "We want to be treated equally, with dignity and respect for starters -- something Evelyn’s comments lack. Pride marches, rainbow crosswalks, the Pride flag are not just for those who are gay as Evelyn alluded to but for all sex and gender-diverse individuals. It’s for their allies, for their supportive family members, even for Evelyn herself as she made comments about being supportive of her own family should she discover someone within her family identifies with the community."